Browsing: January

A Brief History On January 17, 1941, French colonial naval forces engaged the naval forces of Siam (Thailand after 1948) during the Franco-Thai War, a smaller war within the larger conflagration that was World War II.  The French soundly defeated the Thai force, leading to negotiations and an end to the War via a Japanese brokered ceasefire on January 31, 1941. Digging Deeper Prior to World War II, the French colony of French Indochina (mainly what is now Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) included land claimed by Thailand.  (The Thai people always called their country the English equivalent of “Thailand,” while…

A Brief History On January 16, 2001, President Bill Clinton, in one of his final remaining acts as President of the United States, posthumously awarded former President Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor in the United States.  Roosevelt was given the award for leading a charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898.  Roosevelt thus became the only US president to have earned a Medal of Honor, although given the century plus between the action and the award, one must wonder if the award was given for political and publicity reasons. …

A Brief History On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 flew into the annals of History when it became “The Miracle on the Hudson.”  An Airbus A32-214 jet liner had just taken off from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport, bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, when the twin jet powered airliner ran straight into a flock of Canada Geese, causing both engines to fail.  With no chance to return to the airport, the pilot had no choice other than to attempt a water landing (“ditching”) in the Hudson River. Digging Deeper Piloted by Chesley Sullenberger, age 57, a former US…

A Brief History On January 14, 1973, the world was treated to Aloha From Hawaii, a concert televised across the world live, in 40 European and Asian countries, via satellite (a first), that was watched by as many as a one and a half billion music fans, making it the most watched televised concert by a single performer in music/television history.  The icing on the cake?  The tickets for admission to the concert carried no charge!  Concert goers were permitted to make whatever donation they chose (if any) as the concert was a charity event for the Kui Lee Cancer…

A Brief History On January 13, 1953, an article appeared in the Soviet newspaper, Pravda (which means “truth” in Russian, obviously some kind of joke…) that accused a large number of Jewish doctors in the USSR of plotting to poison top Soviet communist officials.  The government immediately cracked down on these alleged conspirators, with hundreds of doctors losing their jobs, many being arrested and jailed.  Other people of Jewish origin or bearing a Jewish sounding name were also ostracized.  This travesty of justice was known as “The Doctors’ Plot.” Digging Deeper The anti-Semitic nature of the Soviet Union is puzzling,…